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As the title says, happy holidays from Lee Marvin Point Blank!
Although it’s already well into December, it’s still not too late to order your copy in its various formats listed below for yourself, for a family member, or good friend who is a Marvin fan, or just wants to know more about him and his fascinating life. I’ve always thought of a book as the perfect gift for someone, as it’s useful and relatively inexpensive compared to other items you can get. As Steve Allen said to me when I interviewed him back in 1997: “I will never understand why people complain about the cost of books. It’s still cheaper than a bottle of good liquor and lasts a hell of a lot longer.”
Even if you already have a copy — and thank you if you do — it’s not too late to consider it as a Christmas or Hannukah gift (Dec. 12th-20th) this year. Don’t let the fact that it’s been out for a while dissuade you, as it’s still selling pretty well. In fact, just a few months ago, the Kindle squeaked into Amazon’s Top 100….

Amazon’s List of Top 100 biographies, Sept. 2017.

Amazon ad for Lee Marvin Point Blank recently sent via e-mail.

Amazon has also taken to continue advertising the title among similar books, which is a good thing… and quite surprising for a four year old title!
As to the formats, they are below and links are included for purchase online via both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Amazons link are in boldface blue in the heading, while I placed the Barnes & Noble links at the end of each listing….Hardcover: Still very much available and in stock as a new title. Includes 2 separate photo sections placed appropriately in the text, with most of them never having been published before. Cool & classic dust jacket, too, makes for a great holiday morning surprise, all designed by graphic design wizard Jake Kiehle! (Barnes & Noble)Trade Paperback: Includes all of the text as the hardcover, as well as the photos, but is compiled in one section not two, as is common for trade paperbacks. There are extras, such as an interview with yours truly about the book and topics for discussion. (Barnes & Noble)E-book: Kindle or Nook: Amazon’s Kindle has proven to be quite popular so there must be something to it. I haven’t seen it myself but it sells more in that format than any other. Personally, I think it’s good thing as my agent, Mike Hamilburg, and publisher Tim Schaffner worked it out for me to get a larger percentage of the royalty in that format, so who am I to complain? (Barnes & Noble’s Nook)
By the way, the title is also available online as an Apple iBook, and at Powell’s Books, Books-a-Million, and IndieBound, locating your favorite neighborhood bookstore by zip code.
And so, there you have it. An easy way to get the perfect gift for a loved one without the hassle of going to the mall. Of course, if you’d like to, the book is still available there, as well. If they don’t have it, demand it as your right as consumer!
As Christopher Marvin once told me, whenever he got anxious as a child for an upcoming event, his father advised him, “Relax, kid. We all get to Christmas at the same time.” Well, it is upon us and to one and all I wish you each happy holidays!
– Dwayne Epstein

Picture this: I’m in the earliest stages of researching Lee Marvin Point Blank, standing in the middle of the public library, when I read the Film Comment article written by director Jim Jarmusch that reveals the first mention I’ve ever heard concerning the Sons of Lee Marvin. I was still slightly on the fence at the time about whether I should undertake the project at all, that is unti I read Jarmusch’s article.
Being a lifelong film buff I had read much about the legacy of film stars following their passing. The cult surrounding stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, James Dean and others are well know to myself and the general public. Such reverence is often shown via film revivals, books and other venues. However, in all the years I have encountered such things I have never encountered anything as what Jarmusch talks about in his unveiling of the Sons Of Lee Marvin. It literally made me laugh out loud when he retold the anecdote concerning fellow member Tom Waits and the real son of Lee Marvin. I was shushed by the librarian and warned if I repeat the guffaw I’d be asked to leave. I acquiesced to the glares and stares of the other patrons but figured in my head, what the hell, it was worth it. My appreciation of Marvin expanded and my curiosity deepened. Quite simply, the more I found out about him, the more I liked him.
This article, by the way, was part of series in Film Comment in which film makers were asked to list their “Guilty Pleasures,” films they know are bad but they like anyway and with a given reason. Jarmusch dedicates one 10th of his entire list to his favorite Marvin films! So, without further ado, below is the original article that helped pushed me over the edge into dedicating myself to researching and writing Lee Marvin Point Blank.
Oh, and by the way, the story about Waits and Christopher Marvin is pure b.s. but sounds great, doesn’t it? If you want to know the truth, from Christopher Marvin himself. you gotta read Lee Marvin Point Blank.

Lee Marvin’s 1972 film, Pocket Money, has been largely dismissed almost since the day it was released. Rather unfortunate, I think, as the film really isn’t all that bad and actually has some things to recommend it.

Lee Marvin as Leonard in 1972’s POCKET MONEY.

The botched production is covered exclusively in Lee Marvin Point Blank via a rare interview with the novel’s original author, JPS Brown. Not mentioned, however, is how Marvin and his famous costar, Paul Newman, got along during and after production. According to Marvin’s son, Christopher, who was on set for the film’s production, there was simply no chemistry between the two men. As he related to me in 1995: “When I was living with my dad later on Pocket Money, Paul Newman came over one day. He had a coffee can full of red wine that he was holding. He was like [drunk voice] ‘You’re old man here?’ I said, ‘Yeah, man.’ He came in and they were just talking AT each other drunk for like two hours [bangs fists together]. Oh god, no repore whatsoever. It was funny.”

After it was completed and Marvin was asked what the film was about, He’d snarkily, respond, “Paul Newman.” If pressed, he would add, “It never worked out. It was Paul Newman’s production company. By the time they cut the footage, Newman was the star. I dunno. I guess the old ego got the best of him. What can you do?”

Terry O’Neill’s iconci photo used for the poster of POCKET MONEY.

Later, when Paul Newman was told that Marvin claimed he was ‘finessed’ out of the picture, he told Rolling Stone: “I finessed him? I never even looked at the picture. Well, no, now I made some recommendations about the ending — two voice-overs that the two of us — but that was the only comment I made. Did he really say that? Well, it’s absolutely not true. I mean, Redford and I have got operational egos, but you never see that in terms of performance. Pocket Money didn’t make it, for sure, but I was delighted to play the character, the adolescent. I think the picture was too repetitious in terms of the humor, and it didn’t really know where it was going. It was fey and artificial.”
To his credit, Marvin made every effort to keep the sad production watchable. He used every trick in the book, while Newman spent the film looking bewildered and dumbfounded. Playing two not-too-bright cattlemen, in a script by novice filmmaker Terence Malick, just never seemed to jell, other than watching Marvin’s hijinks. Carole King contributed a catchy tune and the first half the film is interesting but it just rambles into incoherence. Well, the saving grace may just be something entirely incidental. Terry O’Neill photographed Marvin in what consider the best picture of the actor I’ve ever seen. I’d have made it the cover of my book if the rights were not so cost prohibitive. What do you think?